


Century Long Bachelor Party

by Ludella



Series: Taako's Multiple Boyfriends Dilemma [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Temporary Character Death, Episode 65 Spoilers, Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Weddings, it's TSC what do you expect, weddings!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-11-19 12:03:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11313003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ludella/pseuds/Ludella
Summary: [The Stolen Century with semi-slowburn Taagnus.]“You think we’ll still be together, even when we’re out of this fucked up mess?” Taako asks.Magnus grins like he's keeping a secret. “One time, I told Lup that this was it for me. Decades later, this is still everything for me.”He lets out a surprisingly loud groan of exasperation as he rolls full force into Magnus's chest to hide his face, arms immediately wrapping around each other on reflex. “Fuck, this is too much of emotions, just tell me about how much ass we’re gonna kick when this is done!”





	1. The First Worst Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> wanna hear a funny story; i actually don't ship taagnus all that much. but apparently i can write a SHIT ton of it just fine.
> 
> i wrote this in a bunch of small chunks. some are longer some are shorter, but it's what you gotta do to make it through a fucking century's worth of content. hope you all like fluff and family and angst

They meet far before they leave their world.

The IPRE was established a year before they took off in the Starblaster, giving everyone time to do all they want on the planet, tie up loose ends, prepare themselves, and, maybe most importantly, grow as a team. They decided all to move in together during the last six months in order to get used to each other, not knowing how long they would be out, but long enough it would matter.

Magnus isn’t too particularly thrilled about the idea; teamwork had never been that big for him. He complied, nevertheless, and put his best attitude forward as he proceeds into the small simulation dormitory to meet his team.

As soon as the door opens, he’s smacked in the face with a wad of feathers.

“Oh, blasted, you let it get away, stupid!” a female voice shouts, running after what Magnus discovers to be a _bird_ that flew into his face.

“Will you two please calm down?” a higher male voice says. After spitting out a few stray feathers, Magnus is able to actually walk into the room and pay attention to the gnome who is speaking. “I’m--oh, I’m so sorry about them, you must be Magnus Burnsides, the last member to come in!”

Another person laughs, and he turns to see an elf similar to the one who had run into him smirking across the room. “Woah, check out this beefcake, that pigeon didn’t stand a fucking chance,” he snickers, unabashedly eying Magnus up and down. “Couldn’t you have just caught the damn thing? Lup wanted a pet." 

“No pets allowed!” the gnome cries.

It isn’t that good of a first meeting, in retrospect.

Once everyone is assembled, they introduce themselves, go over the mission’s purpose and the reason they all gathered. Then there are more formalities to do with their lodgings, how they are expected to live in the dormitories, daily attendance, and so on. Each person will have their own private quarters, but basically everything else is shared. Magnus takes the time to assess each individual.

Davenport, Barry, and Lucretia appear to be the most reasonable of the other six. He wouldn’t mind spending time with them, albeit not that interesting. Merle would be more fun if not much… weirder. He can’t tell if it was positive or not yet.

And then there is Taako and Lup, the two walking disasters.

He can’t make heads or tails of them.

Initially, he is inclined to dislike them based off of first impressions alone. The two act with nothing but disrespect and go about everything they do as if everything was goofs. They steal, they con, and they frequently come home with bruises, burns, and cuts from scuffles they got into but rarely lose. Davenport just assures him that a variety of skills are more useful than none at all.

They are exactly the type of people Magnus dislikes, though he does his best to simply avoid them. Still, how is it that two _criminals_ had gotten on board of this high class, incredibly important, solemn mission? Not that he’s here for like, the science or anything, and he’s kind of just a brute with morals and strength, but hey, that’s more than they have!

One night while everyone is preparing for dinner, they are allowed a peaceful evening with just the five calm fellows surrounding the table and chatting. Magnus decides then that he really does like these guys, people like him who are serious about what they believe in and strive for the better good (to some extent). That’s what this is all about, after all; protecting people and making the world or whatever better! Safer!

During an anecdote Barry is telling, the doors slam open, and the gentle quiet of their nice evening is ruined as the catastrophic twins return home. Magnus immediately tenses up, watching as the two thieves just throw bags of gold and jewelry into their rooms aimlessly. They speak to each other loudly and without care for their companions, although said companions don’t seem too particularly bothered as they go about their previous conversation all the same.

The twins waltz into the kitchen to prepare dinner for presumably all six, keeping some of the bags they brought back with them on the counters. As they begin to pull out vegetables, Magnus’s eyes widen. He can’t hold back any longer.

“You stole from the _market_ ?!” Magnus asks, standing and marching towards the elves who stare at him with cool indifference. “The people who sell their wares there are poor, we _have_ enough money to buy groceries!”

“Uh, yeah, we do,” Taako says, not breaking eye contact as he pops a baby carrot into his mouth. “And we spent it on getting _good_ meat instead, so we had to improvise.”

“The chick selling tomatoes was a bitch anyways--she always starts shit with us, so it’s what she gets,” Lup hums in a sing-song voice as she continues unloading all the groceries. “We’re basically fantasy Robin Hoods.”

“What--like shit you are!” Magnus watches in horror as they continue pulling more and more produce from the bags. He can’t help but worry over how much was actually purchased legally. He may be a bit of a rebel, but there are still lines even he doesn’t cross! And taking from people who are _also poor_ is one of them. “I cannot believe you two--how do you sleep at night!”

Taako snickers. “With warm, full tummies.”

Although Magnus storms out of the room upset, he does return to eat dinner. He hates how good it is with all his heart.

* * *

 Their last night is probably the closest they come together after six months, unfortunately. That being said, it’s only due to the fact they all but ransacked a bar out of most of its patrons and booze.

With a more than sore black eye, Magnus waits outside for Taako and Lup to come hurdling out with pairs of shoes slung over their shoulders. Merle and Lucretia are already outside and running back to where Davenport and Barry are waiting for the lot of them.

As soon as the twins get a look at him, they cringe. “Yowch,” Taako hisses, holding his hand up to Magnus’s eye for size comparison. “You look awful, dude, can you walk it?”

“I’m fine on that front, just--”

“Hey, they took our fucking shoes!” A voice from the inside calls, and he hears Lup curse and laugh just as Taako yanks Magnus forward by his arm to start running. The three of them can hear angry patrons they had swindled and fought all night yelling after them, and they laugh the entire way. At some point, Taako lets go of him, and Magnus doesn’t mind chasing after the swift twins who throws the stolen shoes behind to deter him playfully.

It’s a pretty good night, enough he can stand them when they board the ship the morning after.

* * *

 When the day for take off comes, no one could have been prepared for what they would witness.

Davenport steers the ship with wild abandon, sirens blaring as they were chased by dark, inky tendrils. Lucretia secludes herself to a corner by one of the windows, writing as fast she could as Merle stays by her side to help reassure her. Lup is yelling at Barry about something he could have done, what were they doing, and so on.

Magnus stands next to Taako, watching from the safety of their ship as the world they all lived peacefully on for so long is consumed by a violent darkness.

There is nothing else they _can_ do.

He glances to the elf standing a foot away, his face a blank slate of indifference that’s unusual for the sly bastard. Nothing Magnus has ever seen before, and something about it sits poorly in his stomach.

So, even this guy can be affected by actual emotions too.

When he realizes his surprise, Magnus feels guilty for having misjudged him if ever so slightly.

“We’ll be back,” he says, not knowing where the words are coming from. Something Davenport said, probably. It’s only when he notices Taako turned and is watching him now does Magnus continue speaking. “We’re going to find a way to save everyone, and we’ll be back.”

The wizard doesn’t respond, but carries on staring at Magnus who is still focused on the outside. It feels it would be a sin to turn away from the tragedy, but he eventually glances at Taako questioningly.

Immediately, the elf shakes his head and stares back out the window. Magnus almost doesn’t hear him mumble, “I’d be fine if we never returned.”

* * *

 “I’m in.”

Taako stops mid sentence as he’s interrupted, face falling as he stares at Magnus in bewilderment before a cocky smile appears. “I’m sorry, _what_?”

Magnus walks out from where he had been watching cautiously behind a few trees, plopping himself down on the ground next to Taako and Lup. He shrugs with a grin. “You said great godly Power Bear, I’m in. Ask them where I can find it.”

They continue to stare at him before Lup gradually hisses herself into a fit of laughter. Likewise, Taako hides a couple snorts behind his hand gleefully. “What? You want to go see a fucking Power Bear on a planet ruled by animals? You’ll get yourself killed!”

“Are you kidding me!” Magnus throws his hands up. “How do you expect me to hear ‘great almighty Power Bear’ and _not_ expect me to wanna challenge it!”

“He’s got a point,” Lup wheezes between wheezes, wiping a fake tear from her eye as she sits up. “I’m so fucking in--you’re defos going alone, holy shit, but I gotta see what happens!”

She turns to speak with their new animal friends then, trading grunts and hisses naturally. It’s impressive how quickly the twins latched onto this new language, and definitely not something Magnus would have thought of. Which is probably made obvious by his immediate decision to fight this god of the new world instead of speak with it about the light of creation, as Merle and Davenport are no doubt doing.

Magnus glances over to find Taako still staring at him, though his smile dropped considerably. It’s like he’s being studied, and Taako doesn’t hide the way he’s openly looking Magnus up and down.

Unsure of what to do or say, Magnus lifts his hand in an awkward wave.

Taako’s face splits into a smile and he wiggles his fingers back before joining Lup.

* * *

 They already saw the Hunger devour one entire world, their own. They watched from afar as it swallowed their planet en masse with little resistance. There had been nothing they could do, and they all took their own time to bid their home farewell as they watched it sink into sludge.

It was the most frightening, humbling experience Magnus had managed to live through.

So when the Hunger comes to this planet as well, he decides things will be different. This time, they are on the ground when the storm breaks, and they can actually fight. They can _do_ something besides run--and yet, that’s all everyone seems prepared to do.

“C’mon, let’s go, we’ve got to get out of here!” Davenport yells over the sound of crumbling buildings and the pained roars of injured animals. Lucretia, Barry, and Merle follow without hesitation, helping each other the best as they can. Lup and Taako hold onto each other’s hands as they run at the back, Lup shooting missiles and fire at whatever her wand could possibly hit.

Magnus watches all six of them flee, and feels his legs move in the opposite direction.

His decision doesn’t go unnoticed.

“What--what the hell do you think you’re doing, Magnus?!” he hears Taako shout over the madness. When he looks back over his shoulder, the six of them are stopped momentarily before Lucretia urges them on.

Scooping up as many bear cubs he can fit on one shoulder, Magnus nodds to the elves watching him. “I can’t leave another world to die!”

“You can’t help if you’re dead!” Lup says as she narrowly avoids being run over by a fleeing boar. A few words are exchanged between her and Taako before they take off again.

Taako cups one hand around his mouth. “Make it back to the ship before it’s too late!”

And then all six of them are gone.

But Magnus can’t turn back on them now. He continues as he had been, running with as many animals as humanly possible on his shoulders to caves and clearings where the Hunger had yet to reach. Set them down. Run back to the village. Pick up more animals.

He is used to fighting--and he is used to fighting alone. He’s been beaten to a bloody pulp before until he could barely walk, yet made it home fine. This, his current exhaustion, pushed beyond any physical limits he ever believed himself to have. The adrenaline running through his body may as well slice his tendons along the way and he wouldn’t have noticed.

It isn’t enough. Even he can tell that no matter how many he tries to save, there will be no way to help any. When the sky is completely black, dipping down onto the ground and absorbing animals whole, he decides it’s time to leave. They’re right; he can’t help anybody else if he’s dead.

Unfortunately, his stamina and adrenaline only last for heroic moments, not self preservation. The moment Magnus makes to run for the forests and back to the ship, his legs collapse beneath him, and he is only conscious of the fact when his face hits the ground. He wasted too much time--no, it wasn’t a waste at all. He sits up enough to look over his shoulder, able to see only for a moment as a wave of tar comes over the land, sweeping up not only every single creature he worked to save, but himself as well.

When he opens his eyes, he sees white.

The pristine, clean white of the Starblaster.

And standing right next to him, looking just as bewildered as he stared out the window, is Taako, openly gaping at him.

Lup and Barry emerge from the kitchen they fought in. Davenport slowly creeps out of the control room. Lucretia and Merle stand from the table they worked together at.

Before he can think to say anything, Magnus feels a harsh slap that unexpectedly sends him reeling. “Wh--Ow! What the fuck, Taako!” he hisses, holding his offended cheek while glaring over at the elf.

The other six look to each other back and forth, unable to comprehend what is happening before Barry speaks up.

“Well, that makes this easier.”


	2. Old Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOW ABOUT THAT TAZ EPISODE like i said i have all of this written and i uh  
> definitely had to rewrite the ending LOL it still goes well thankfully

On their sixth cycle, they descend onto another jungle-like planet with less interesting animals. Barry says he assumes it’s what they think their world may have been like before any humanoid creatures or sentient life came to be. At some point early on, Lup and Taako try to communicate with the local fauna only to get bitten a few times and return to the camp with some meat for dinner.

It’s one of the more peaceful worlds where the landscape isn’t trying to kill them before the Hunger even presents itself.

For what little peaceful time they have, everyone decides to split up and focus on their own personal tasks. Like the other cycles previous, Magnus focuses on training his body.

To say he was shaken by his experience with the animal kingdom would be an understatement.

Ever since, Magnus worked tirelessly on his strength and efficiency by secluding himself from the others and focusing on his training. During any breaks he took, he could hear the cries of suffering creatures and saw the Hunger descending upon his home planet as well as the other worlds they visited. He washes them out by picking the pace back up twice as hard.

He can’t back down after coming face to face with the consequences.

One day, he retreats into a small enclave he set up when they first arrived. It’s one of the first things he does when they land, and he makes certain it’s still near enough to the ship that anyone can reach him when there’s trouble. With a clear mind and little in his way, Magnus goes through his routine like every other day for the past seven years.

The worst part about their work is that, no matter how hard he trains and improves his body, it will return to how he was from day one. Any muscle mass he builds, and flexibility he gains will all disappear and he will be forced to start over again. It’s the only reason he continues so vigorously on every cycle, never knowing when he will need the brute strength he has so efficiently worked to a science.

“Hey, big guy…” A lilting voice from behind the trees catches him off guard, and Magnus turns quickly on heel to see Taako with his hands up defensively. “Yo, watch it--I just wanted to talk.”

Magnus narrows his eyes and shrugs. “Sure, but I’m going to continue working.”

“Uh, yeah sure, whatever.”

Taako sits down on one of the many logs Magnus tore down on their first week here. Another one is between the human’s hands and being lifted up and down above his shoulders. Although he’s the one to intrude, Taako remains quiet for a good while, simply watching Magnus’s routine with an oddly indifferent expression for how attentive he was. 

He only speaks up when Magnus has set the log down and moves onto push ups. “This is really all you do, huh?”

“I have to,” is his immediate response. “I have to be prepared in case something unexpected happens, so I can defend everyone.”

“Yeah, there it is, that’s what I’m here for.”

It’s enough to gain Magnus’s full attention--Taako doesn’t ask to have serious conversations very often if at all, and just from how the elf’s eyes dart about, he can tell he’s uncomfortable with all of this. Magnus stands from where he settled on the ground and marches his way over to sit down beside him on the log.

“What’s up? You don’t ask to talk a lot. Especially not with me.” Magnus leans his chin on his hand and peers at the elf in question, only for Taako to avert his eye.

“Well,” Taako begins, leaning away, “it’s this whole… training every day every world thing. The rest of us are all trying to learn about the light and all, or figure out what to do, you know?”

Magnus nods. “Right. That’s why I train so I can help everyone out.”

Taako picks himself up and his shoulders raise, finally meeting Magnus’s eyes as he slowly raises his hands. “That’s the thing is that you--” His hands fell to his lap with a shrug. “Don’t? Like, you do, you’re super very strong, but uh. We could really use you doing other shit too--with us.”

“I’m the head of security, Taako,” Magnus says with furrowed brows. “Protecting everybody is what I’m  _ supposed _ to do."

“And Lup and I are the head arcanists! We do magic and blow shit up for a living, and we’re pretty damn good at it!   


“So… what you’re saying is…?”

Taako sighs, shaking his head in exasperation before fulling turning himself to face Magnus. For once, there’s no goofs, no laughs, and Magnus feels uncomfortable under the weight of an unfamiliar, heavy stare. “We can protect ourselves, doofus, and we can also protect you. It’s not a one way street, so you should… not waste yourself doing stupid shit like this all the time when you could be, I dunno, useful!”

“I’m not?!”

“You  _ are _ !” Taako groans and stands up. It takes him a few paces around the lot and many hands through his hair before he returns in front of Magnus with a deep breath. By now he actually looks unexpectedly angry. “There’s more important shit to do, and all you’re focusing on is yourself. We’re supposed to be a team and you’re acting like it’s six dainty damsels and big strong shield man!” Another deep breath, and he lowers his voice. “Stop me if I’m being too nice, but we--the crew seems to be becoming close, and they would appreciate having another… friend, or something, fuck, I give up, go talk to Merle!”

Just like that, Taako throws up his hands and jumps up from the log. Magnus watches in bewildered interest as he stomps back to the ship where everyone else had set up camp and is left to ponder over what he had at least tried to say.

When he returns to the main camp for the first time in days the next morning, all but one greet him warmly.

Taako kicks his stool out from under him and laughs.

Surprisingly, Magnus does too.

* * *

They become closer after that, somehow.

On the tenth planet, they spend much more time together. The world is basically nothing but ocean and few small islands, so Taako quickly calls dibs on Magnus who is quick to fashion together a makeshift raft for no more than two people. The elf stands wobbily atop of it while Magnus steers, hooting and hollering at his sister who curses him for leaving everyone behind playfully. When he sits down, he’s still giggling, and Magnus smiles at him.

He’s slowly learning how to decipher Taako. The first and most important thing he picked up was that nothing was ever exactly as it seemed. Taako is simply sarcastic by nature, though he appears to use it more as a cover than anything else. Magnus only got to peek underneath of that a few vulnerable times, but it’s enough to interest him in becoming friends with the wizard.

“Hey, Mango,” Taako whistles while poking Magnus’s thigh with a dark toe. “Let’s go that way, light looked like it landed on that island thing.”

So he steers them that way. Magnus doesn’t mind the labor, not when he spent a good few years doing nothing besides exercise--especially now that he has company. He glances over at where Taako is laying on his back, taking up the rest of the raft space with his sprawled out limbs. An easy smile rests on his face and Magnus is only slightly endeared.

They’ve had peaceful times in the past few years, but something about this place really gets to Magnus. They don’t exactly have all the beaches they would have in their homeworld, as all the islands are small and mostly covered in rock, but there were no immediate dangers in sight. The sky is a familiar pink that’s only slightly different from the hue he’s used to, and although there’s only one sun, he can imagine they’re home if he just looks past the horizon and inhales the salty ocean air.

“Hey, Taako?”

“Mmmyep my boy?”

“Can I ask you about something?”

“Already did, but shoot.”

Magnus allows the quiet to settle for just a few moments. “What did you mean when you said you didn’t want to return home?”

On this world of ocean, the weather so far had been impeccable. The sun always shine, the wind is perfectly warm, and the water is soft and easy to paddle through. He likes this world, Magnus decides then. Good things could come from it. When he looks over at his guest, Taako has one hand off the side of the raft in the water.

He doesn’t bother making eye contact. “Lup and I, uh… didn’t have a good time there. Shit sucked,” he shrugs, waving his hand in the air in an attempt to let the subject blew over. “It’s like she said, we crushed that world, so it’s best to go to the next and make total dook out of the guys there, yeah?”

“Why’d it suck?”

Taako lets out a long groan as he rolls over onto his side to face Magnus, glaring all the while. “Damn, take a hint, Maggie!”

He doesn’t bring it back up.

They’re unable to reach the island Taako had seen in the distance, and when nightfall rolls around, Magnus realizes they may have made a mistake abandoning themselves to the ocean alone without anything to go off of. As soon as he expresses his concerns, Taako rolls his eyes and allows a small flame to appear on the tip of his finger.

Magic was more convenient than Magnus gave it credit for.

The two of them dine on freshly grilled fish with their now wet backs pressed together. For once, Magnus doesn’t initiate conversation, and he’s happy to just stare up at the stars while Taako explains the in’s and out’s of cooking with magic and how perfectly safe it was.

He fell asleep like that, too invested in the living world to even bother dreaming.

By the time he wakes up, the sun has just crept over the horizon and he watches Taako, who never has to sleep, using his magic to propel the raft along. When he notices Magnus is awake, he looks back at him with a cocky grin that Magnus can’t help but return as he picks up his paddle and they work in tandem.

It’s fun, and an easy way to make the rest of the trip go faster as they keep an eye out for any of their friends who had yet to come join them. Once the island is well within sight, Magnus abandons the raft and jumps overboard to swim the rest of the way. He nearly drowns just from laughing at Taako’s loud cursing as they compete, Taako using magic to steer the raft while Magnus shows off what years of training did for him.

It doesn’t really matter who actually made it to shore first, seeing as Magnus can only lay on the beach and heave air into his lungs from exhaustion while the elf laughs at his misery. Minutes pass as he recovers his strength, and it takes the smell of fire and  _ food _ to force him back up. Sure enough, Taako is sitting a small ways away, skewering fish they had caught earlier and propping them up over the fire. When he notices Magnus approaching, he waves and offers him a few.

The light of creation is nearby; they’ve been around enough times to get a vague idea of where it would be, and tomorrow they’ll set out to go and look for it. But as the sun begins to dip below the ocean and spill its vibrancy over the sky and waters, Magnus doesn’t even bother bringing it up just yet.

Just sitting here, eating fish two at a time while Taako fusses over it being too dark to search for seasoning, is nice in and of itself.

He can’t help but feel slightly guilty; so  _ this _ is what the rest of the crew had wanted him to experience.  _ This _ is why they wanted him to stop training so much.

Magnus tilts his head back to watch the stars dig through the purple blanket overhead enough to be seen, and he appreciates them. They’re different, and somehow it’s reassuring. The creates lines between them with his eyes when his brows crease together. There’s no Hippogriff holding the star of ‘whatever’ in its talons, and no lines he traces can recreate the ‘Bugbear Major’ he had always been able to point out wherever they went.

“What’re you thinking about?” Taako asks, punctuating his question with a loud bite as he tears the meat of the fish from its bones dramatically.

Magnus shrugs. “You’ll call me a sap, but… I was thinking about the stars. They aren’t… the ones from our world, are they?” He shakes his head sadly, but smiles nonetheless. “I don’t know--didn’t know, a lot about constellations, but my mother showed me a few, and I can’t find them here.”

Thankfully, Taako doesn't laugh. In fact, he hums thoughtfully and lays back on the ground to stare up at the sky as well. Magnus watches his eyes flick back and forth across the night sky and sees the same telltale creasing of eyebrows in frustration.

Taako’s arm shoots up suddenly, pointing straight above them. “Umami Mushroom.”

“What?”

“Look, that bright star up there, if you connect it with those ones… it looks like a mushroom. Umami, for flavor."

Magnus snorts, not seeing it until Taako lays down beside him to show. “Then,” he starts, twirling his finger before point to the east, “those three up there, with that one below it, make Merle’s beard.”

“Davidport’s stache is right above it.”

“What?”

Taako yanks Magnus’s hand from where he has it settled upwards and traces a line across the sky. “See? It’s got the curly thing.”

“Barely!”

“Hey, if the ancients could see two lines next to each other and call them twins, I can make a moustache out of a few!”

They laugh together, and the act alone is enough to surprise Magnus. The two of them have spent a moderate amount of time together, but not much outside the context of working or without other people. He could call him a friend before all this, but now? He turns his head on the sand to watch Taako who continues searching the sky for another joke.

“Why’re you doing this, Taako?” he asks with a knowing lilt to his voice.

Taako’s nose twitches in a micro-grimace before he tries to shrug it off. “You said you wanted constellations--no one else is going to make any on this dunk planet. Might as well.”

The kindness seeping from his words, try as the wizard might to hide it, is honestly shocking in a way Magnus knows it shouldn’t be. He’s seen Taako grab his sister’s hand when they have to run, or bring back small interesting things for Lucretia. He picked on Barry often, but his plate would be just a little bit more filled when they settled in for dinner that night. Taako being kind isn’t new--but Magnus had never been the recipient of it.

“Hey…”

When Taako doesn’t give any response, Magnus gently reaches out to touch the back of his hand. The elf immediately jumps to stare at him in shock, but Magnus simply smiles.

“Thank you, Taako.”

Eventually, he smiles back, but the expression quickly fades. Magnus is worried he may have done something done when Taako sits up from his position next to him. Was he not supposed to show he knew Taako was being nice? Because he couldn’t just not when it meant so much to him that somebody was trying to help.

Taako wraps his arms around one knee at his chest while he stretches the other leg out in front of him to play with the sand.

“Lup and I never had it easy back in the home world,” he finally says after a few minutes of silence.

Magnus stays where he is laying on the ground; to disturb this moment would throw away everything they had been building so far.

“Our parents abandoned us right off the bat. We got passed around by our family a lot, goin’ to grandparents and aunties, uncles, all of ‘em. None were too happy to have us besides one of our aunts, though she probably just felt ashamed her sister--our mom--left us and was making up for it. Bullshitting her way along, you know.”

The crashing of waves makes for a soothing backdrop to the scene, enough to fill the quiet when Magnus has no words. Taako takes the time to pause and fusses with his hair for a while until it’s free from the braid and lays over one shoulder. He spreads both legs out before him now, stretching gracelessly before he flops back onto the sand with his hands behind his head.

“We ran away when we were like, human-age twelve, lived on the roads by ourselves conning men and women out of their gold and valuables. Everyone we ran into sucked, by the way--no worry for justice here. I mean, no one could help two skinny beanstalks of kids on the street? We were like rats, but rats with magic, which also sounds really fucking dope in retrospect. It’s our magic that really got us out, since with just our talent alone, both of us made into a really nice academy. Turned the place upside down and graduated top of our class while making everyone hate our nasty, better-than-them guts.”

Taako laughs at his story and Magnus chuckles as well.

“Kids got so mad we were better than them since we just tested in above them, never went to school before. They’d try and play pranks on us, but we’d get ‘em back tenfold. Was fun as shit until you realized literally everyone besides the headmaster hated us with a  _ passion _ . So we graduated, tops, and joined ye olde IPRE a few years later after we got bored of helping out profs who still hated us with their shitty research.”

With a shrug, he turns to level Magnus with a stare, as if daring him to speak now that he finished.

“We made it out. But I’d never want to go back. Not after everything we went through.”

It was a long story. One Magnus didn’t ever expect out of Taako, and definitely one he didn’t expect to ever hear. It makes sense, of course; Taako’s naturally thorny nature, his closeness with his sister, his talent in magic, and his sharpy, thorny exterior. Without knowing, Taako had basically given Magnus the keys to his entire personality with just his backstory.

Magnus meets his eyes and feels his heart stop; Taako doesn’t look away. He knows exactly what Magnus is thinking, and the warrior is quick to speak as to not let him imagine anything else. “You’re strong, Taako--not just with your wand, emotionally.”

Taako’s face scrunches up and before he can move away, Magnus sits up while grabbing for his hand.

“I’m serious! Really--thank you for telling me that. You’re really… I’m really glad I’ve gotten to spend time with you recently,” he tries to smile as openly as possible, though the result is probably something much different if Taako’s laugh is anything to go off of.

“You’re a weird one, Maggie,” he chuckles snidely and lifts Magnus’s hand to shake it comically before letting go. “The pleasure is all--well, yours, really. Now stop barfing emotions on me, I just used my whole month’s worth.”

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t tell anyone you have a heart, don’t worry.”

Magnus winks at him in good humor, and the slight twinkle in Taako’s eye is enough to convince him it was the right move. All at once, he feels the relief of having navigated the minefield that was Taako’s mindfield. Had he made one wrong comment or off-key movement, Magnus knows he would’ve been out for good. 

Instead, Taako is still reclined peacefully beside him, only a few inches between them and the exhaustion Magnus feels sinking into his bones is a welcome one. He knows Taako doesn’t sleep the same way, but it’s an odd comfort knowing he’ll be here and somewhat conscious all night.

In a way, Magnus feels guilty once he closes his eyes.

Throughout Taako’s entire story, he kept quiet and repeatedly reprimanded himself for getting distracted; all he could think of is how ethereal he looks with the light of the fire on his face and their constellations in his hair.


	3. Schemer

A resounding slap fills the empty quiet of the Starblaster the moment they return to their recorded states after the thirteenth cycle.

Like always, everyone filters back into the main room, though this time they only have to peek inside before they split off into another chamber to speak together. Taako and Magnus, just as every cycle before, are standing in front of one of the windows. All their clothes and fatigue are restored to their recorded states.

Now, however, a hand-shaped red spot joins Magnus’s black-eye on his face.

“What is wrong with you!” Taako yells, rearing his hand back before slapping the other side of his face for good measure. “You fucking idiot, you think I said all that stuff years ago for garbage sakes?!”

Magnus only grabs his wrists to protect himself from a fourth slap; Taako wasn’t very strong physically, but it still stung like a motherfucker when anyone was upset enough. “I _know_ , okay, I know! Look, I’m sorry for--”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, bub!” Taako spits venomously while trying to wrench himself out of Magnus’s grasp. His face scrunches up in disgust the longer they’re touching. “We tell you to take care of yourself and trust us more, and what do you do? Fucking get yourself killed on month  _three_!”

“I wasn’t going to let you get hurt instead!”

Taako doesn’t say anything else after that and avoids his eye at any cost. Although he would much rather stay long enough to sort things out and talk like adults, Magnus lets go of his wrists and allows the elf to stomp away to his room. It frustrates him--Taako’s tantrums drive him absolutely _mad_ when they fight. But he can’t force him to be reasonable and actually talk when feelings are his biggest fear.

Magnus tosses and turns that night. He’s irritated at Taako for being upset at him, more than anything, and it doesn’t help that he can’t reassure him. 

He can’t say he won’t do it again--not when protecting what’s important to him has become pure reflex.

* * *

It’s probably a difference between how elves and humans perceive time that gets to Magnus. For him, a year is a long time, basically an eternity to spend without somebody. For Taako, he was already over a hundred years old, and they were speeding through these cycles in no time. It’s the only reason Magnus can conceive how Taako is able to continue avoiding him or bring up another fight when they’re confronted with each other for a whole year before they actually make up.

It’s best for the team in general when everyone is getting along, especially Taako and Magnus; Taako, secretly one of the more clever brains in the group, is capable of coming up with more conniving plans than Davenport or Lucretia would ever allow, and Magnus is the man to carry them out and foolproof them.

They worked together whenever there were fully formed civilizations they had to work past to get to the light of creation, and for the most part, they go well. They keep each other from dying, to say the least, and sometimes they’re even successful.

“Are you _sure_ this is going to work?” Magnus hisses, leaning forward to whisper in Taako’s ear as they are escorted through the most heavily guarded building in town.

He can’t remember for the life of him _why_ they thought this was a good idea, or what possessed Magnus to agree to this. The plan they have up until this point consisted of no shortage of charm spells, persuasion, and most importantly, Magnus beating up a stray guard off duty for his armor and disguising himself as one of the town’s knights with the wizard’s spells.

Every moment he spends speaking with another person, Magnus can feel his heart beating loudly in his chest, afraid at any moment Taako’s magic will wear off and leave him open and vulnerable to attack. Though they can be charmed, the majority of the work falls on Magnus to convince the guards looking over the light to allow them inside.

“Trust me, Maggie,” Taako huffs confidently. “I’ve got this shit on lockdown--just follow my lead.”

The guard leading them stops in front of a large gate to a coliseum-like structure, taking them inside. The interior of the area is large and open, though a series of three gates and fences separate the outer ring from the very middle. There in the center, a pedestal is raised up with the light of creation proudly placed upon it. Taako’s ears perk up when he sees it. The actual guard speaks up first. “Don’t get too close, but this is it. Can we get going now, I really shouldn’t be doing this.”

Magnus feels his stomach lurch as he is cued to act once again. “Why--yes, of course, good sir! We’ll be right on our way!” He pats the man on his shoulder and begins to walk, gently guiding him along as they make their way around the outer ring of the arena. Taako follows after them, humming casually. “Have you already clocked out for lunch yet?” Magnus asks the knight, sweating through every layer of clothing. He just has to keep this guy distracted, that’s all.

Magnus looks back just in time to see Taako blink out of the plane, reappearing moments later in the center where he can easily retrieve the light.

When Taako gives him a thumbs up, holding the ball of brightness in his arm, Magnus nods and sighs in relief.

Which is enough to get the attention of the real guard.

“Hey--wait, what the hell do you think you’re doing!” he shouts, immediately rushing to the first line of gates separating them from the middle of the room. Although Magnus feels slightly guilty for having given the other away, he’s able to rest assured Taako had planned for this as well. It was just a matter of _Magnus_ getting away before the disguise magic wore off and he could meet up with Taako wherever he teleported and also why was the elf just standing in the center of the room looking sheepish?

His stomach drops when he sees Taako shrug his shoulders and shake his hand in the universal sign for ‘no spell slots.’

They’re doomed.

In a show of absolute panic, Taako begins pacing around the pedestal. All of the gates are locked from the outside, there’s no way for him to get out without using magic he is currently incapable of.

The guard removes a length of keys from a panel on his armor at his hip, beginning to undo the lock on the first fence. Magnus eyes widen with a realization and his hands fly to his own hip, feeling around--right, the guy they mugged left his keys here as well.

The smallest spark of hope ignites as he quickly conjures up a plan. Magnus has to get to Taako before this other guy can. “Hey, stop right there, thief!” he calls out, hurtling himself towards the next gate as soon as the first is open and fiddles quickly with the keys to unlock it and move to the third and final fence.

Taako is bouncing up and down, staring at Magnus and not having to try too hard to appear afraid when looking at him. They’re both dead if this failed, and there’s no doubt this event will make retrieving the light that much more difficult. With the third key in the lock, Magnus all but shoves the other guard to the ground as he hurries inside, not even pausing to _try_ and apprehend Taako peacefully before simply throwing the elf over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this!” he yells to the man currently regaining his footing after being pushed aside. Taako simply hides his face in Magnus’s back, the light secure in his hands as they barrel out of the building and, finally, outside.

“Hey--where are you going with that!” Magnus hears the guard calls, but quickly shuts the door behind him and makes a break for it.

The adrenaline of still being alive keeps him going, weaving his way through innocent villagers and other horribly confused guards on the road. From the front, nobody can see the light that Taako is holding, and Magnus runs too quickly for it to be seen from the back either.

They are no doubt being searched for. By now their initial guest has had enough time to report the incident to some other guard and rally up a search. It’s all with good reason, and Magnus honestly can’t blame them for wanting to tear the two of them apart; the light’s cravability isn’t to be trifled with.

Once they are out of sight of the town and a good ways through a neighboring forest, Magnus stops, completely out of breath and strength entirely. It’s a miracle he manages to set Taako down before all but falling to the ground. He pants for breath like a dog, leaning back against a tree in the meantime, and looks up at Taako as if the elf will have some kind of advice or witty one-liner.

Instead, Taako simply stares back at him, holding the light of creation firmly in his hands.

They watch each other for a good few moments before a grin splits Taako’s face in half.

He lifts the light in the air, high above his head. “What the fuck is _up_ my man! Holy shit, Magnus, I didn’t know you had it in you!”

In between gulps of air, Magnus manages to speak. “I… take offense to that!” he laughs, pulling himself to his feet to stand taller than his friend. “You didn’t think to save a spell slot for the _most important part_?”

“Yeah, well, it worked out anyways, didn’t it? But dude, we kicked major ass back there!”

Magnus sighs and runs a hand through his sweaty hair. This is the first time they’ve done anything like this, especially without the permission of the rest of their friends. No doubt things would have gone to absolute _shit_ if they messed it up in anyway. Davenport would have an aneurysm.

But they didn’t. When Magnus looks back up at Taako, the elf is already watching him as if waiting for another reaction.

Slowly, Magnus’s expression opens in a wide smile.

“We actually… fucking did it by ourselves, didn’t we?” he asks, standing to his feet with help from the tree he was leaning on.

Taako proudly tossed the light in the air though he almost dropped it on the way back down. “Uh, hell fucking yeah--come on, celebrate with me for a second!" 

So he does. Magnus doesn’t give Taako a chance to escape before he grapples the elf into a bear hug, lifting him up easily and throwing him into the air. Taako shrieks the entire time while holding onto the light for dear life, though his squeals eventually turn into laughter until they’re both stumbling down the dirt path snickering like idiots, leaning on each other from pure exhaustion.

* * *

 Magnus and Taako’s plans became a routine for each cycle once the first few go well.

So well that when one goes wrong, it’s a surprise to everyone.

Only in the moment does Magnus make a surprising realization; now, on their twentieth cycle, he has already died six times. Merle is down five, Lucretia one, Davenport one, Lup three, and Barry two. Taako has not died once.

The operation was simple; Taako would be obnoxious, get himself thrown in prison which was _conveniently_ close to the building the locals were keeping the light of creation hidden, use his magicky wiles to escape, wham, bam, thank you ma’am and they would be out. Magnus was in charge of knocking out a few guards along the way to make the ride for Taako easier at the end so they could escape without a trace.

Perhaps it’s a difference in culture. They learned where the light was, sure enough, but not much about the civilization in general. So it’s a great surprise to Magnus that when Taako openly picks a fight with a man in a busy marketplace, the guard apprehending him does not restrain him but actually stabs him in the shoulder to keep him down.

It’s the first sign that something might go wrong.

The second comes when, two days later on the scheduled night they agreed to have Taako break out and make a run for the light, Magnus is left alone with the unconscious bodies of two guards he made quick work of knocking out. Taako is nowhere to be found. He waits for hours, nerves steadily building as he goes so far as to restrain the guards for a longer period of time.

Sitting in the bushes for so long alone in the dark, he knows everything could be wrong and immediately blames himself. There was so much he could have done. He should have thought through their plan more carefully, they didn’t do enough reconnaissance, something Magnus could have prevented. It hardly matters now that the fact has occurred.

When two new men come to stand their post (with no lack of confusion as to where their coworkers are), Magnus makes an impulse decision to get himself arrested by turning himself in with the captured guards.

Obviously, it works, and he’s led roughly to the dungeons only minutes later. His worries sit high in his throat the entire walk and he inspects every cell they pass, searching for bright hair and silly grins where he knows there won’t be any.

The prison is dark and cold, made of the same wet stone for its walls, ceiling, and floors. The cells are empty of furniture save for a single chamberpot and sometimes a blanket, depending on the person. He can only think of a scrawny elf being led down the same hallway, and everything that could’ve gone wrong to keep him from escaping if he hadn’t at all. Which was it? Where had it gone wrong?

A guard pushes his shoulder harshly when he slows down for just a moment. Magnus is brought back to when Taako was captured; why had they stabbed him, but simply apprehended Magnus? He couldn’t make sense of anything--he didn’t _want_ to until he knew what was going on and that Taako was safe.

The only thing to go right is the best thing to go wrong. When the guards finally stop to open a cell for him, Magnus can’t help but notice the man sitting--no, just barely propped up against the wall of the prison opposite of the one they were preparing for him. The figure is beaten to high hell and the stone floor is covered in his blood. Magnus cringes at the sight of his knee bent at a wrong angle before anger rises up like bile in his throat.

Taako lifts his head, and a weak smile, missing a few teeth, comes to his face. “So that guy I attacked might’ve been a prince.”

It only takes a second for Magnus to decide that yes, he could take these guards alone. Even with his hands restrained, it takes little effort for him to break the ropes while knocking one guard face first into the cell’s bars. Other prisoners watch in silence, not bothering to encourage him for fear the noise might bring more. In retrospect, they were probably hoping Magnus would release all of them once he picked up the keys from one of their belts. Unfortunately, he couldn’t care.

The door to the other cell is open within seconds, and when Magnus kneels by Taako’s side, his hands hover in the air for not knowing what to do. “Your strength is _obscene_ ,” Taako coughs out a laugh. “Which is why you should easily be able to carry me outta here, big boy.”

He does that. With all the care he can muster from his hard, rough body, Magnus delicately wraps his arms around Taako’s shoulders and knees to scoop him up. The elf groans in pain, yelping when Magnus readjusts his hold on his bad knee. From here, he can see everything they did.

To the government here, Taako’s innocent game at being arrested must’ve been seen as an assassination attempt. He hadn’t been treated kindly. There are bruises obscuring his usually pretty face, and Magnus can tell some of the cuts on his body were new as they continue to bleed on him. Just from picking him up, he’s covered in Taako’s blood already.

“Let’s go, I’ve got you,” Magnus whispers and tries to run as quickly but gingerly as possible back through the halls they came through. “Can you use any magic to help out?”

“Barrier in here,” he hisses, “but get us out of the dungeons and I’m good.”

Magnus practically barrels down the few guards standing at the entrance, and he realizes he has already single-handedly downed this force of half of their employees now. It’d be satisfying if he didn’t feel like he had made such a large failure.

Taako has never died before.

None of them have ever had to lose him. Lup has always had her brother, but he’s lost her multiple times. Magnus himself has been lectured repeatedly about being careful when they’re planetside.

While Magnus is alive, he’s never not _had_ Taako.

The hum of the barrier now cast around him is the only comfort as Magnus pulls the two of them out of the prison and back into the open air. He feels Taako’s body heave a sigh of relief at the outdoors. “We’re safe now, buddy, just gotta get home,” Magnus reassures both of them.

Now in the daylight, he can better see the wounds mottling his dark skin. He has to swallow the bile that rises in his throat to continue moving. Never had Taako ever been this badly hurt. “Lup’s gonna be so pissed,” he hears Taako murmur, and part of him wants to laugh at how banal the statement sounds. He says the same thing frequently over things like overcooking dinner, not this. Never this.

“I’ll take the brunt of it, don’t worry.”

They’re just a mile or so away from where everyone had set up in a village here--they were so close. At one point, Magnus hears a sickening ‘splat’, looking down to see red doused over his boot. Taako groans again and he speeds up his pace.

“Don’t worry, Merle’s a cleric,” Magnus says, and he can’t look down at the man he’s carrying.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll get the light a different way.”

He can feel his fingers beginning to slip, be it from sweat, blood, or a mixture of the two, it doesn’t matter--he holds Taako tighter to his chest like a babe. If only he had brought something with him, they could have at least bandaged some of his wounds sooner. If only he had gotten there sooner, if only he had…

“I’ll do better next time, Taako. I won’t let this happen again.”

From here, he can see the tip of their ship in the distance. It’s just past a few trees. Their friends are right there, waiting for them, and they’ll continue brainstorming.

“Just a little more, okay?”

It’s not even been a full month since they arrived.

“Not… not you, Taako.”

They still had an entire year to go.

“Please, please, for the love of god…”

By the time he makes it back to their team, Taako’s corpse is already cold.

His stiff hands are wrapped tight in the shirt over Magnus’s chest.

It’s just like he said; Lup goes mad. As soon as she sees them, her eyes close off. She screams at Magnus, wrenches her brother’s body away from him, and casts a number of spells to wake him up, even though elves never sleep. Magnus simply strips himself of his bloodied clothes and allows himself to be yelled at for his greatest failure yet. 

Taako dies on the twenty-third day of the year, and Magnus spends the other three hundred and forty two regretting every moment.

* * *

The first thing Magnus does when they return to their recorded state after the decimation of the world is grapple Taako into a rib shattering embrace.

Never one for emotions, Taako allows it until Lup inevitably pushes the two apart to hold her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've loved writing this and am always so excited to upload more chapters. come hang out with me on my [tumblr](http://ludella.tumblr.com), I'm constantly taking requests and chatting


	4. Auto-Eulogy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot when i last updated this lol
> 
> so the chapter count changed. more on that at the end of this

The next cycle, Magnus could have easily returned to his previous ways of secluding himself into his training. It’s what he wants to do, to become stronger, so what happened last year never occurs again. He wants to be able to protect the people he cares about, it’s all he’s ever wanted to do, but continuously seems to fail.

It’s wrong to say that Taakos avoids him the cycle after his first death, but they don’t spend as much time together, and they definitely don’t scheme as much as they had before. In all honesty, it makes Magnus feel a bit lonely, despite the fact they hadn’t even spent but more than a few cycles going through ridiculous plans together. Time still goes slowly for him, so even just three cycles was enough to become a pattern--it was three entire  _ years _ after all.

This world is quiet, comprised of small and separate villages that either worked together or were rivals for land. Thankfully no conflicts arise while they are on the surface, and it allows everyone to take up time with what they so chose. After the mess that was last cycle, Magnus is grateful for any peace and safety at all.

Taako, Lup, and Barry make an effort to train their physical strength this time around and learn about close hand combat. Magnus is only slightly hurt that they don’t ask him for help and he’s left to hanging out in the village with Davenport. Merle and Lucretia team up to find the light this time around, as the duo grow unexpectedly friendly.

“What skills do you possess?” an old man, one of the locals, asks the two of them when they ask for advice in local training. The two came to an agreement they would make close relations with the people here in case they end up needing their help later on, and the best way to go about it was throwing themselves into the local culture.

Davenport quirks a bushy brow. “Well, that’s the thing, I was hoping to learn something  _ new _ from your people--”

“No,” the elder interrupts him, shaking his head although his eyes stay focused on the piece of clay before him, “it’s more important to  _ enhance _ what already lays dormant within you.  _ That _ will be your prize.”

Although Davenport falls silent, Magnus quickly answers. “I guess I’ve always liked woodwork.”

In fact, he spends the next five months doing nothing  _ but _ woodwork.

Shortly after Magnus was given his task and got set to train with the best carpenters in the village, Davenport found his place among the spiritual meteorologists who brought skepticism and what little scientific fact they had together. The fight between religion and science was one their captain had many a time before with Merle, and this was a good opportunity for him.

Magnus wakes in the morning, meets his masters, carves jagged curves out of blocks of wood for ten hours, then returns to the Starblaster where the twins have dinner ready and everyone has gathered for dinner. The trio who split off earlier spend most of the time complaining, and though they’re united in that front, Magnus can’t help but notice Taako quiet down sometimes when Lup and Barry speak.

The two have grown undeniably closer. What hints and whispers at possible affections were slowly growing into something more, something permanent. During last cycle, Lup needed somebody to rely on with her brother gone, and it’s natural Barry was the first to offer her comfort. They spent all of their time together that cycle, and those affections and bonds carried over seamlessly even now that Taako has returned.

He doesn’t say anything at the table, and they all continue their separate work apart from each other. The masters of the village praise Magnus when he is able to recreate one of his blades out of wood, having mastered the shape entirely. But this is a place where effort is spent primarily on ‘enhancing’ old skills, thus, they spend most of their time teaching Magnus to do more delicate work than he is used to. Taking an old skill and putting a new spin on it.

Magnus is in the middle of carving the lip of a wooden ‘bowl’ (a sharp polygon with a dip in the middle, really) when Taako interrupts his work.

“Mags, you got a minute?”

“Sure,” he answers all too quickly. This is the first time Taako has really come to him one-on-one this cycle, given they were both busy with work and other teammates. He had admittedly grown a little anxious going to long without hanging out with the elf like they used to. Giving the elders his excuse, Magnus takes his work back with him in his pouch and follows Taako out of the tent they were working in.

The elf doesn’t speak much as they walk together through the village, not even once they’re out of sight of civilization and just going through forest paths together. It isn’t an uncomfortable silence that makes Magnus worry, although it should--simply being able to see Taako alive and well is all it takes for him to feel relieved these days, even if it had already been months since his death.

They haven’t spoken about last cycle once, and Magnus expects this to finally be the moment they talk about it at long last. He has a lot to say, after all, and a lot of emotions sit heavy in his chest just watching Taako walk in front of him. 

They keep walking until they reach a riverside and Taako stops suddenly, causing Magnus to nearly run into him. When the elf turns to look at him, his eyes are hard and his brows are furrowed.

“Let’s fight.”

Magnus hardly has time to react when Taako comes flying at him with his arm rolled back for a punch. He nearly gets hit but grabs his fist just in time, managing to twist his arm around his back. Taako ducks down before Magnus can do anything else, darting between his spread legs and behind him in a quickness that actually impresses Magnus.

He doesn’t try and question him from then on. The next time Taako comes at him with a punch loaded in the chamber, Magnus holds his hands out in front of him and takes it. And then another--and again. Taako continuously reels back his hands and hits Magnus as quickly and powerfully as he can muster which, unfortunately for him, is not a lot. There is a bit of weight behind it, but Magnus has been training for far longer.

After about a dozen swings, Taako grows visibly tired, back slouching over and hair covering his face so Magnus could no longer read his expression. His fists merely slap against Magnus’s hands when they come in contact, and the next time he reels a hit, Magnus curls his fingers over the elf’s small hands and takes them in his own.

“Taako,” he says quietly, and to his surprise, he lets Magnus tug him closer. He could have imagined it, but Magnus swears Taako took the last step towards being pulled into a hug by himself.

The wizard buries his face in the warrior’s chest when a pair of arms come up around him. “Fuck.”

“Are you… alright?” Words are not Magnus’s strong point, much less Taako’s. Trying to navigate a delicate conversation between the two of them was like a three-legged race through a minefield.

Instead of saying anything, Taako shakes his head and further nuzzles his face into Magnus’s muscles. It’s a good enough answer, so Magnus wraps his arms around his lithe frame.

Taako hasn’t had it easy in a long time. Even if this is a peaceful cycle, the last one had been extremely rough for him. Taako had been there for Magnus after his first death and kept him from doing anything stupid or furthering himself from the crew any longer than he already was. 

“I tried talking to Lup,” he murmurs, voice muffled by Magnus’s shirt. “And she was there at first. I haven’t needed to  _ talk _ to anyone in so long, but… shit, anyone can see what’s going on between her and Barry. It’s been months, and I should be over it, but--fuck, you know?”

“Do you want to talk about it with… me?”

“ _ Fuck _ no, I just wanted to blow off steam.”

“Oh,” Magnus says. “Cool. Should I fight back?”

Taako pushes the man away and backs up into a familiar fighting stance he’s watched the elf practice through the last few months. “If you think you  _ can _ .”

The next time Taako rushes him, Magnus has no trouble sweeping the elf up in his arms while avoiding an attack and tosses him into the river in one quick motion.

Magnus is laughing when the top of Taako’s head breaches, looking no different from a wet cat. The idea of fighting hand to hand combat is evidently taken off the table then, as a column of water rises from the river and falls overtop Magnus’s head, dousing him entirely. While wiping his eyes, he can hear Taako’s snort-laughter.

They fight for literal hours, a mixture between playful wrestling and Magnus dodging a variety of spells Taako had been anxious to use after being dormant so long. The side effects of their play included a few charred trees and a pile of fish casualties they would cook for dinner later on, probably. Although the suns had been high in the sky when they left the village, they were now sinking and just barely peeled back the sky hiding new stars.

Taako and Magnus rest on the smooth rockbed on the edge of the river, down to their undergarments while the rest of their clothes dried on a tree branch. Taako, on his back, watches Magnus attempt to skip stones across the surface of the water with only partial success (most of which due to a bit of water manipulation on the wizard’s part).

Like earlier, words aren’t needed, and the silence reigning over them now is more comfortable than ever. If being able to see Taako alive was a comfort, then being able to spend this much time alone with him and just bask in his liveliness was a trip to the spa. Magnus ran his fingers over a smooth stone in his hand absentmindedly, and he saw Taako sit up from the corner of his eye when he realized Magnus wasn’t tossing the rock.

“Hey, Taako…” he starts after a few gentle moments. The elf doesn’t respond, but doesn’t stop him. “About--about last cycle…”

“I don’t really wanna talk about my death, dude.”

“No, well, kind of, but…”

Magnus stops himself from messing this up and thinks harder about what he has to say. This world is something like their own, in the wild like this, except for the difference in colors. Rocks are still gray, but he could see the purple grass across the river from where he sits now. He can almost pretend that they’re normal people, with normal, un-fucked emotions and reasons for having them. But just a moment in his head reminds Magnus otherwise; the circumstances they are in keep him from having any such banal satisfactions. 

Here, they had to deal with new problems--these  _ deaths, _ as if they were normal.

“It’s after that,” he says, “once you were gone. You’ve never been… really gone before, and it was eye-opening for me.” Taako hums, and it’s obvious from the way he keeps his eyes trained forward on the setting green sky that he doesn’t want to talk about it. Magnus isn’t one to be deterred, however, and continues watching him as he speaks. “You know about Lup--she was a mess, and I hope you give her a chance to really talk more about it because she needs to. But, Taako…”

“Mags, I don’t want to hear my own eulogy.” Taako’s voice is sharp and snippy, and when Magnus glances at him, the his face is turned to the opposite side of the riverbed. The freedom and simple sparkle in his eye from when they were playing immediately dulled. If this wasn’t a conversation they needed to have by all means, Magnus would feel bad about it. “If you’re going to make me listen to this shit, make it fast. Condense it to like, less than five words.”

That’s hard to do. Magnus thinks back on the rest of their day, Taako’s first real smile this entire cycle while shoving Magnus into the river, contrasting the blank vacancy he wore the months prior. The cycle before that, Taako entrusted Magnus with his life and he failed, but carried his limp body back to their base and held a year-long funeral. The cycles prior, where they schemed their way through tricky plots and civilizations, cleaning up each other’s mistakes because they were perfect for filling in the gaps the other had and made a perfect team.

Every single fight they’d had in the past couple decades, shouting at full volume before they stormed away. Taako’s cold indifference when he was angry that wasn’t cured until Magnus inevitably always gave in and apologized first. The next day he was back on Magnus’s shoulders, blending into a society of giants.

He’s had the opportunity a million times already, but nothing to compared to this, the best day ever.

“I love you.”

It’s enough to give Taako pause, meaning he freezes completely after whipping his head around to stare at Magnus. His eyes are wide in shock, mouth slightly open and Magnus wants nothing more than to run his thumb along his plush bottom lip as it hangs there aimlessly. Instead he settles for returning his attention back to the stone in his hand and tosses it over the water where it skips once before sinking with a plop.

This world has two suns that orbit each other as the planet revolves around them, like their home had. They eclipse as they sink below the horizon and cover the sky in bursts of green and blue as the black of the universe beyond begins to creep through. Magnus lays back onto the stones and stares up at the sky instead, giving Taako both space and silence. He just watches the stars, once again different from any world they’ve ever been to, and searches for patterns among them.

At some point, he hears the pebbles shift as Taako lays down beside him, still keeping a few inches of space between them.

“Barry’s glasses,” he says quietly, pointing up in the sky. Magnus follows his finger until he sees the stars he’s pointing at and smiles.

He lifts his hand as well to begin tracing lines together. “Merle’s smile when he lost that front tooth is up there.”

Taako snorts loudly beside him, and the ugly sound makes his heart swell.

Surprisingly, Magnus doesn’t feel worried about having just confessed his love to his best friend. He feels… relieved, if anything, to get it off of his chest, and he realizes it doesn’t matter if Taako returns his feelings or not. As long as the elf knows what he means to him, and just how immensely important he is, it’s fine. After all, Taako hates emotions; if this were to bother him, Magnus was used to putting his feelings aside when they hung out.

Partway through the night, they both stop naming constellations and fall quiet, watching the stars instead. At some point, the gap between them closed, and now Magnus can distinctly feel the warmth from Taako’s arm against his. It’s a small comfort when he wants nothing more than to just hold him against his chest like earlier that day. But if this is all he was given and all he could have, it was better than nothing.

Until, inevitably, Taako sits up and stands without a word or explanation. He moves so swiftly that Magnus doesn’t follow after him, doesn’t think he’s allowed to. This was probably Taako leaving to have some time to himself now that Magnus dropped a bomb on him, and it’s all he can do to let him go.

He sits up after a moment, just enough time for Taako to disappear beyond the treeline and allow Magnus to have unwanted time to himself as well. He can’t feel guilty or upset about anything that happened today, and in retrospect, it’s still the best day ever. Even if Taako doesn’t feel the same way, expressing how he felt was--liberating. And he got to spend more time with the elf today more than the rest of this cycle put together. It’s still a good day.

Magnus finally stands once he decides he’s done moping. Yet when he turns to retrieve his clothes from the branch they’d hung them on, he finds Taako is standing right there, holding his cloak in his hands and just staring at it.

“Taako?”

The elf glances up at him, eyes in another world entirely as he stares Magnus down. It makes him just slightly uncomfortable, feeling like he’s being studied for something he can’t place, and Magnus wonders if he should be acting a certain way before he’s suddenly hit in the back with a wave of water.

The spell sends him reeling with an unmanly yelp, nearly falling over as he attempts to regain his footing and wipe the water out of his eyes.

“What was  _ that _ for!” he yells, gathering the water on his face and flinging it off his hands.

Taako is standing directly in front of him when he’s finally able to open his eyes. He half expects for him to be holding one of the larger stones from the riverbed and clock Magnus upside the head with it, given the unusually hard expression he’s wearing. The last time Taako looked like this, Lup had just died for the first time.

But it’s different. Magnus knows that as soon as Taako lurches up and drags Magnus down by his cheeks into a painfully hard kiss.

Magnus doesn’t need any other confirmation at that point, and he wastes no time wrapping his arms around the elf’s middle and all but hoisting him into the air. He feels Taako laugh into the kiss before he hears it, his chest fluttering in a stew of different emotions. Their lips move against each other, completely independent of their partner, and make for the grossest, most chaotic kiss Magnus has ever experienced.

He fucking  _ loves  _ it and holds Taako tighter to him. It’s only when he feels the elf kick against his knee does Magnus realize they’ve been kissing for minutes and neither have been able to breathe, so he finally lets him down. Magnus grins as he runs his thumb along Taako’s now swollen bottom lip and feels it curve up as he does so.

“Jesus  _ Christmas _ , man!” Taako gasps, still clinging to Magnus’s biceps as he regains his breath. “Give a guy a warning before you go in like that!”

“You’re the one who rushed me!”

Taako scoffs, but goes in for round two anyways.

They don’t return to the camp that night and tousle around the riverbed and later the purple grass for hours on end, simply rolling around, laughing, and kissing like the fools they are. As always, Magnus falls asleep when Taako has no need, but isn’t bothered this time as the elf curls up into his side and meditates with his head nestled on his chest. He wakes up to find Taako still semiconscious but no longer laying on him, now reclining leisurely beside him and weaving small grass flowers into his hair and stacking stones on his chest that move when he breathes. He smirks when Magnus blinks up at him, and they continue where they left off the night previous.

By the time they make it back to camp after multiple detours making out against trees, Lup is ready to hang Magnus for making her worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i said i had all of this written out beforehand, but uh I was rereading and was like, hey, this pacing is horrible. so now I've added a ton more and i think it's enough for one maybe two more chapters. this chapter was only supposed to be a couple paragraphs and expanded it to this, so now the other chapters are pushed back and need reworking too lol
> 
> hang out with me @ludella on tumblr for #goodtimes i take reqs often


	5. Absolute Fools

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOHOO just a little bit more!! unfortunately moving chapter count back down to 6. and chapter 6 is already done so it'll go up super soon.
> 
> i really just want to get to the other parts of this series more than anything. this entire fic is exposition

The puppy planet is Magnus’s favorite.

Despite Lucretia’s warning that they should wait to leave the ship after landing, he throws open the door immediately and screams the entire way down the aisle that fold out.

Taako watches from the ship, smiling as Magnus is immediately overtaken by a dozen dogs of varying breeds and sizes all at once. He knows this is heaven for the man.

“Taako!”

“Right here, bub.”

Magnus’s voice goes higher. “Taako!”

“Like I said, right up here.”

Magnus sits up from where he fell to the ground and gathers four dogs in his arms at once. The others continue to leap and jump on him, barking excitedly.

“You sure picked a good one, didn’t you, bro,” Lup says while coming up from behind Taako, leaning her arm on his shoulder. 

He scoffs and pushes her away. “Shut up, don’t you have some nerd to go blue ball?”

‘Embarrassment’ has become Taako’s new right-hand weapon when dealing with his sister, and he smirks as she exclaims ‘ugh!’ loudly and promptly returns to the ship. Of course he loves her, and his teasing is only payback. He descends the platform as gracefully as one can while being swarmed by furry beasts, nearly tripping over them as he does so.

“C’mon, babe,” he says when he’s in front of Magnus and holding out a hand.

The other looks up at him, down to the dogs in his arms, and then back up with a conflicted expression. “But--”

“If we stay  _ here _ and play with dogs, Davenport will inevitably come out and make us work--let’s bail.”

Magnus acts like Taako has given him the world on a platter. He can hear Barry yelling at them not to leave as they’re halfway across the clearing, Magnus dragging him by his hand with a wide grin. Even if he’s just playing along, Taako laughs and casts a spell to raise their stealth as they duck together into one of the many oversized dog houses nearby.

He knows none of the others are going to follow after them, since  _ they _ know the two of them will inevitably return eventually.

Taako and Magnus only grew closer and closer after they came together, spending the next few cycles making out behind every somewhat tall object and Magnus carrying Taako around like a proud spouse. It’s like a never-ending honeymoon, as disgusting as the thought is to Taako--a romantic vacation that is becoming more serious as the time goes on.

Just kissing and sticking together all the time turned into long conversations that had Taako on the verge of tears from opening up slowly while Magnus cried openly onto his shoulder. Quick fucks for the sake of messing around became Magnus holding Taako’s face in his hands and staring at him so intensely during slow, romantic sex, Taako felt he might melt into the bed.

Magnus is, naturally, on top of all of it.

It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and he shows it in everything he does and says.

For Taako, it’s almost overwhelming.

“Hey, Taako,” Magnus asks while they’re walking together through one of the many Pup Towns, hand in hand while Magnus carries a dog in the other arm (“You’re lucky,” Magnus said, “I could be holding  _ another _ dog instead of your hand right now.”). Taako hums his acknowledgement. “What happened to that necklace I made you…?”

Although he doesn’t respond immediately, Taako knows exactly what he’s referring to. One of Magnus’s many displays of affection came to a head last cycle when he handmade his lover a wooden necklace with no real distinct shape. Magnus was still an amateur. Still, Taako had worn in the entire year, and now it was gone.

“That old thing was  _ so _ last cycle, Maggie,” Taako drawls as if it isn’t saved in a special box beneath his bed. “I have to keep all my fashion up to date, you know?”

Magnus picks up on the hint and smiles wider, nodding. “I’ll chop down the best tree I can find tomorrow.”

Of course, he spends the entire cycle wearing a shittily carved dog paw brooch on his red jacket.

* * *

The Starblaster may be the best, most advanced piece of technology any world they visited so far had ever seen, but it has its own limits. This includes its speed, in that it usually takes a few days before they reach a new planet. It isn’t a bad thing at all, really, as it gives the crew time to strategize, come together as a team, and put all the information they have out on the table.

During one of these interludes, Magnus finds himself being cornered into his room by a rather daunting Lup. She stalks over to him while Taako is busy in the kitchen, hands on her hips and face unmoving.

He’s been waiting for this.

“So, Magster… Maggie, Magliss, Mango…” she prattles on while closing the door behind her. There really is no escape now, and the scariest part is not knowing whether he would revive next cycle if he dies on the Starblaster instead of a planet.

“Lup… look, it’s already been like three years--”

She sighs. “I know; to elves, that’s just enough time to be considered more than a fling.”

He cringes at the remembrance of their difference in perception of time. For Magnus, three years is when he would consider them more than serious, enough he would suggest moving in together if they were normal.

When he looks back over at Lup, she’s chewing on her nails in a way that’s uncharacteristically… apprehensive? “Look,” she starts off, “I know he doesn’t seem like it, but Taako’s actually, uh. He’s sensitive, yeah?”

Magnus and Taako are growing only closer now that they got together, but there’s hardly any distraction from his and Lup’s relationship. The twins remain tied to each other’s sides for the majority of cycles, now with Magnus as an added bonus here and there. The only main difference besides all the make-outs and PDA is that Taako stays by Magnus’s side when the human sleeps, no longer meditating in a mess of limbs with his sister.

But Magnus can understand her fears. During these decades they spent together, it’d be a lie to say he and Lup hadn’t grown their own individual relationship with each other. The two of them are always the first to charge headfirst into rash situations and bond over sick battles while the others take care of their injuries.

He knows both of them. Magnus offers a cautious smile and puts his hand on her shoulder. “I know. For me… this is serious, Lup. And don’t tell Taako but I think--I think this might be…  _ it _ for me.”

Her eyes widen at his words before the rest of her face catches up, and suddenly she’s big grins and high ears. “What!” she laughs, yanking Magnus’s hand off of her and launching herself into his chest. She leaps up to grab him by the neck in an excited but forceful headlock. “ _ It _ ? You think my gross baby brother is  _ it _ ? That’s super nasty, holy shit!”

He can’t help but laugh with her, and he grapples her waist to lift the lithe elf over his shoulders. “It’s already done, no take-backsies! I’ve already stolen your brother, and I plan on making him the happiest doofus in the world-- _ worlds _ !”

“How  _ dare  _ you!” she squeals. Lup tumbles off of his shoulders and regains her balance fast enough to tackle his legs. The two of them continue wrestling playfully, yelling encouraging insults back and forth until Taako finally interrupts them to announce dinner is done.

He doesn’t get the chance to finish what he’s saying before the two drag him in by his legs and pin him to the floor to join in. Their dinner is cold when they finally stop goofing around, but sitting alone with the twins as they exchange stupid jokes, it’s the best meal Magnus has ever had.

* * *

"When do you think they’ll just fuck?”

Taako hums in consideration while he wrings seawater out of his hair. “I’ve never seen Lup like this before, it’s kinda… embarrassing to look at. Twenty more years?”

“Ten,” Magnus says, “I have faith in Barold.” As Taako begins to settle down, Magnus naturally opens up his lap for him to sit in and wraps his arms around the elf’s chest.

Of all the cycles so far, this one is Magnus’s favorite without a doubt (even if puppies was really good). They had found the light early on, everyone was alive and happy, they were allowed some downtime on the beach… it was bliss, really. He would give ten of their peaceful cycles for one day of this one, simply sitting on the beach knowing everyone is safe with his lover curled up in his lap, all warm and happy.

They’ve been together a good few years now, and while in the grand scheme of their mission was not a long time, a year is still a year for Magnus; it’s a good chunk of time to spend with someone. 

Taako leans back in his hold enough to tilt his head up and Magnus presses a chaste kiss to his mouth. “You taste like seawater,” he says when he pulls away, licking his lips. Taako just snickers and pulls him down for more.

It’s a good world. After all the death and sadness they have been through, all of them, it’s good to take time to remember what’s important. Magnus tightens his hold on Taako’s waist-- remember what they’re fighting for. Taako’s mouth is open and pliant against his, always teasing enough to coax Magnus into taking the lead. He’s the more assertive out of the two of them but preferred to be led when it came to most things physical. Learning how their bodies worked together is something of an art, and Magnus adores every quirk and small intimacy between them; everything weird in their relationship because he’s with Taako, and gods, neither of them are normal.

At one point, Taako told him he didn’t want to be called his ‘boyfriend,’ and Magnus immediately agreed. It surprised himself to realize he had never once thought of their relationship as really ‘dating’ until he said something; to him, it was just how they were. As cheesy as it was, he could never simplify their relationship as just ‘dating’ when what he felt was so much more. It’s the motivation to live every damned cycle, the power to move worlds if he had to, and sometimes the fires of his own feelings felt they would burn him.

He told Taako all of it at one point, and the elf laughed himself to the point of tears. Magnus joined him--it was horribly cheesy, but although Taako would never speak of his feelings, he knows they are similar.

This cycle’s gift is a choker made up of small seashells. They scratch and itch at Taako’s neck, but he wears it regardless. Magnus knows it’ll join his collection beneath his bed with all the other messy things he’s thrown together in previous cycles.

A dripping wad of seaweed thrown at the back of his head is all it takes to break Magnus out of his thoughts and he tears away from Taako when he hears Lup and Merle’s guffaws. He casts a quick glance over his shoulder at them before Taako grabs his face and grins wickedly at him. They’ve been together for years; Magnus can basically read his mind now. He grins right back at him before pulling the wizard in by his hair.

“Oh,  _ Magnus _ !” Taako moans at an obscene volume, splaying his hands across his back and running them up and down for the others to see. Magnus plays along and pulls Taako tight to his body, groaning as they make out messily and gyrate unnecessarily against each other, all for aesthetics.

Lup shrieks in laughter while Merle pretends to vomit. As another last piece of seaweed is thrown their way, Taako breaks away to catch it in his mouth then raises his eyebrows at Magnus suggestively.

“You’re so fucking gross.”

They keep making out anyways.

* * *

Magnus doesn’t mean to eavesdrop. It just happens--he stops outside the door when he hears a conversation and listens in just enough to know if he should intrude or not.

“...can’t… like this… him, too.” Merle and Taako became closer over the last few years, so hearing him in his room isn’t that much of a surprise. The wizard couldn’t leave to go meet him if he wanted.

“I know, but… them alone… it’s one thing I…” Magnus inches closer to the door at the sound of Taako’s voice, oddly quiet and concerned. He presses his ear to the wall and only feels slightly guilty for invading his privacy. “I can’t do that to them, not again.”

“Look at yourself, Taako--do you really think you’re helping anyone like this?” Merle’s voice is insistent, usually only a tone he used when speaking with Lucretia or Davenport. It’s kind--his preacher voice, when he really tries to reach people. And he never uses it with Taako. “I wouldn’t say this to anyone, it’s just our particular circumstances--”

“No, I get you. I just… don’t know if those two can deal with me not being here again.”

Magnus’s heart sinks when he finally realizes what they’re talking about.

It was early on in the cycle when Taako was poisoned by an unfriendly native during a negotiation that didn’t go so well. They had never seen anything like it before, and it became quickly apparent once they made good terms with the locals that there was no antidote. At the time, Taako merely shrugged and said he would shake it off.

A month later, he’s become bedridden as the skin on his fingers and feet began rotting off of his living body.

It’s gruesome, and he keeps himself almost completely cocooned in blankets to hide the affected areas. He only lets Merle see them on purpose, and the cleric respects his privacy and doesn’t say anything when Magnus asks. Whenever he enters, though, they’re cleanly bandaged and wrapped up nicely from the dwarf’s care.

They know he’s dying. At the forty-fourth cycle, it’s only his second time, whereas Magnus just experienced his tenth death two years ago. When they returned to their recorded states, Taako levelled him with a stare before shrugging and a smile returned to his face. It became… normal, almost. They seldom talked about it, but Magnus knew Taako had his own ways of coping whenever he had to go through a cycle without him.

Magnus has no such experience.

“Taako, we have the resources to continue if you have to… sit this one out. We’ve really been blessed, y’know, that we can just--go!” Merle says beyond the door.

He hears Taako laugh, though the happy noise turns into a hideous coughing fit before he’s able to speak. “Easy for you to say, you die all the time!”

Magnus knocks on the door casually, and the two immediately halt their conversation. He can’t listen to this anymore.

“Honey, I’m home!” he says as cheerfully as he can manage, and it takes a great deal of effort to force a smile onto his face when Merle opens the door. The dwarf rolls his eyes at him and waves goodbye to Taako as he leaves the room casually. As if he had not been discussing the best way for Taako to die moments earlier.

Across the room, Taako is propped up in his bed and facing the door. When he sees Magnus, a smile is immediately brought to his face, just slightly wilted. Of course he notices.

“Bring me any pretty things, oh great Magnus?” he asks.

The warrior closes the door and joins his side in three easy strides across the room. A few chairs have become permanent installments next to his bed, with the one to his right always saved for Magnus. He holds up the small bag he had brought back from the market and plops it down on the elf’s lap.

Taako makes quick work of opening it and coos happily when he plucks out a piece of candy, easily popping it into his mouth. “You’re the best,” he confesses while leaning over enough for Magnus to take the hint and place a quick kiss on his full mouth.

“And you’re the worst.”

It’s hard to act as if he isn’t distracted by the bandages covering Taako’s fingers that make him fumble with the small treats, dressed all the way up his arms now. Magnus swallows a lump in his throat; the last time he had seen them, they were only to his elbows. When Taako drops a candied jelly onto the covers a third time, Magnus picks it up for him, pretending he was just being romantic as he lifts it to his mouth for him.

It hurts. It hurts more than anything else, and he’s brought back to a time when he was very much in love and afraid, running through a village and forest with the half-dead body of the person he loved in his arms. He was a wreck afterwards, and the carelessness with which he treated his own life afterwards during that cycle contributed to his current death count.

Deep down, Magnus knows Taako is right for worrying about him like this. But at the same time…

He looks over his now pale face, the bags under his eyes, the dryness of his lips. His limbs are covered completely in bandages, some already bloodied, while others are dry. On each ear is this cycle’s gifts--hand-carved, wooden ear cuffs that took more time than any other before to create. Although Taako had commented on how rough the edges were when he first received it, he hasn’t taken them off yet. With how his fingers are, Magnus isn’t sure he’d be able to.

“I’ll be okay,” he whispers, unable to hold it in. It’s a conversation they need to have, though he knows Taako won’t be happy about it.

It’s a surprise when he feels a cloth covered hand touch his own, and Magnus lifts his head to see Taako watching him carefully. “That’s a damn lie and you know it, Burnsides.”

“No, I…” He flips their hands over so he can hold Taako’s in his. He doesn’t ignore how unusually light it feels in his hand. “I can’t… watch you be in pain like this. If me and Lup are what’s keeping you from letting yourself--feel better, then it’s the same as being unable to protect you.”

Being the cause of his pain is worse than being unable to stop it, he decides.

Living without Taako is by far one of the worst things he can imagine, along with failing their journey completely. But without this love that’s become so absolutely crucial to him, that’s so important and absolutely earth-shattering in its magnitude… what can he do?

He hears Taako chuckle and looks up to see him smiling--not his goofball grin, but that special, intimate smile he saved for his lover and sister. His wrapped fingers fiddle with the wooden cuff on one of his ears fondly. “You emotion too hard, Magnus.”

“I can’t help it,” he smiles back at him helplessly, because it’s true; he’s so in love, and it’s both the best and worst thing to happen to him. The cycles they have peace together and can spend days leisurely curled in on each other, forgetting the world, have become his sanctuary. But just seeing him in pain for a second is so horribly disheartening that he feels he could die at any moment. “Doctor gave me the news, I’ve got a bad case of lovin’ you.”

Taako’s snort would be endearing if not followed by another set of painful coughs. Magnus strokes his hand through it and helps him sit up more when asked. “I wish you didn’t--you’re gonna end up increasing your death toll every time I so much as wear a skirt and catch you off-guard.”

Magnus laughs, but he knows what he’s implying. “If anything, it would just give me the strength to provide you with safer days to wear skirts as much as you want.”

“I’ll be waiting for you on board the Starblaster, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Bring me back a nice, brand new light of creation.”

“Only the best.”

“And when I get back to a functioning body, I want you to fuck me so hard I die again.”

The sudden vulgarity of his words surprises Magnus, and he doubles over laughing with his face in Taako’s lap. “I thought that was just  _ assumed _ .” He feels the elf snickering as well, and for the first time all night, his heart begins to lift. Right, this is just temporary. Things will always reset, and they’ll be together again, perfectly fine just as before. When he calms down, Magnus keeps his head in Taako’s lap as the elf begins to card his fingers through his hair. “Taako, this--this love…”

The ‘L’ word used so seriously makes Taako groan on reflex.

Magnus slaps his leg lightly to reprimand him, pulling back to look him in the eye for this. “Your love isn’t something I want you to worry about holding me back, it’s… probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Color filters into Taako’s face, and Magnus is grateful he maintains eye contact nonetheless. “Loving you makes me  _ stronger _ , Taako. And if right now what I need to do is let you go for a while, then I can do it. Because I know you’ll be waiting for me on the other side.”

“You idiot, I’m not actually dying for real,” Taako mutters.

“My point still stands.”

Taako tilts his head back and it’s signal enough for Magnus to lift himself up and press their lips together. He’s ready to pull away when a pair of arms wrap around his neck and pull him closer, until their tongues are sliding against each other in an insistent way that’s only Taako. Magnus doesn’t mind; he’s glad to see Taako exerting any effort besides just laying in bed. Unfortunately, he feels Taako stiffen up as he tries to move closer before he has to pull back and moans in pain. Magnus helps him lay back down carefully, and he knows the tenderness he uses is what makes the elf so upset.

Taako rolls his eyes in frustration. “God, I can’t wait to fuck your brains out later.”

For now, Magnus is able to laugh with him, and they spend the rest of the night simply talking about the new world, their friends, and generally stupid shit that doesn’t matter. The latter is Magnus’s favorite, when Taako becomes unhinged and speaks without restraint or filter. It lets him forget where they are and what condition they’re in until he’s able to gently climb into bed beside him and fall asleep, lover curled up in his side.

He rests soundly for the first time since they began going downhill.

Taako is dead when Magnus wakes up, body stiff and cold in his arms. He simply kisses his forehead, runs his fingers through his hair for a few minutes, and returns the cuffs on his ears into his pocket to deliver to Taako’s stash of gifts. Then gets himself up to inform everyone else.

He can make it without him. Taako had done it for him many times already; they had to get even.

* * *

Taako makes good on his promise when the cycle is over, jumping Magnus’s bones immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come hang with me @ludella on tumblr, we have fun.
> 
> will probably update in a few days so we can keep it movin.


	6. My Big Fat Alien Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we made it!!! thanks so much for sticking through, hopefully this is somewhat satisfying or probably not since we all know how TSC goes.

Cycles continue to pass without mercy.

Again and again, they arrive, they fight, they laugh, and sometimes they die. And they leave.

They watch as countless worlds are consumed by the same destructive entity that feasted on their own world so long ago. Although they have taken the time to become closer with the team, to the point each person is like an extension of their bodies, they begin to grow farther apart as well. They close in on themselves.

Hope is so far away.

After a particularly gruesome cycle, they land on the new planet with low expectations and spirits far in the ground. Lup and Barry depend on each other, but she comes to Taako often to whisper words that Magnus doesn't want to risk overhearing. If the twins were similar before, they are completely different people now. They're different and so much closer. 

Merle, the glue who held so many of them together with his bright disposition and unexpected wisdom, has lost so much of his hope. So far, there are more cycles in which they have lost Merle than ones he remains with them, and it takes a toll on everyone. Nobody else wants to be with his family more than him.

Lucretia is never the same after her year alone. She takes the role of leader from Davenport, who forces everyone to continue wading through the mud together. Lucretia and her newfound strength is all that keeps them going, along with the bonds they’ve made. Davenport, their once fearless leader, discovers self-doubt and fear. He tries so hard to remain above the rest as a pillar they can count on, but they eventually bring him down to be comforted as well. They all must.

“When do you think it ends?” Magnus asks Taako one night during the third month of their new cycle. As now tradition, the couple saved a few nights to lay outside and begin naming constellations that didn't exist. Unfortunately, the clouds are out tonight. It doesn’t stop them from spending time together.

Curled up at his side, Taako is quiet, as had become the new norm for him. There are only so many goofs a person can make throughout a century of repeated apocalypses. Magnus has also changed, in different ways, and the two silently morph around each other to adjust together.

“I don’t know if it does,” Taako finally admits, speaking into Magnus’s shoulder. “Sometimes I think we died for good a long time ago, and this is our Hell. Just--this, forever.”

He considers his words quietly. They’ve all thought the same thing before, and it’s probably the most painful thing to consider. There’s no guarantee there even  _ is  _ an end in sight, nothing to say these worlds won’t go on and on forever. They continue going, and yet they haven’t been able to save them.

It’s torture for Magnus who only wants to protect what he loves, knowing one day, he might not be able to protect these six people who are all he has.

“Sometimes,” Taako continues, “I wonder if we shouldn’t just give up. If we’re just fighting for nothing and it would be easiest to just… finally stop.”

“No. Never.”

The elf shoots up immediately, the trigger on what they had all been worrying about finally pulled. He glares down at Magnus with harsh lines in his face that are saved for their worst fights. “We can’t keep going forever, Magnus--can you even say that there’s anything  _ worth _ fighting for when we haven’t had anything good happen to us in years, decades--almost a  _ century _ !”

Magnus sits up more slowly to join him, though Taako scoots slightly away so they can face each other. He levels him with a serious stare and makes to grab his hand.

“Don’t,” Taako hisses, snatching his hand away. “I’m serious, Mags.”

“So am I. Every day something good happens to me, Taako--and that’s you and everybody else.”

He watches the elf’s face scrunch up in disgust.

“No, listen to me! Every single  _ day _ I fight for everyone, especially for you, and I’m not ready to stop. I don’t want to give up, not until we have to, because as far as any of us know, there is an end out there!” His hands clench in his lap, using all of his effort not to reach out and grab his lover for support more than anything. “I keep holding out because there’s a chance one day this will stop, and we’ll go home or some other weirdo planet and be able to live all together in peace. Don’t you want that, too?”

“Of course I do.”

A stubborn disquiet fills the space between them as Taako refuses to budge. Both of them have been accumulating stress like an avalanche, gradually compounding higher and higher until they had to take it out on each other. They were fighting more often recently--between all seven of them, and the realization made Magnus’s mouth taste sour. They were a family. This couldn’t just be it forever now.

He turned to dig around in the pouch at his hip, immediately gaining Taako’s attention. When the elf realized what he was doing, he smiled half-heartedly with a forced snort. “You’re  _ still _ doing this?”

Magnus pulled out a small parcel and grabbed Taako’s hand, curling the wizard’s fingers around it. “You still accept them, so I still make them.”

As weak as it was, the smile on Taako’s face remained as he unwrapped the object and laughed. He held up the bracelet to the moon to get a better look at it. “You’ve gotten way better, Mags. Don’t have to worry about this one bruising me.”

“Oh, shut up, ass.”

Magnus had improved on his woodworking over the course of a few decades, and by that, he was practically a master. One can become an expert on any craft if they’re given a century to cultivate it. The bracelet Taako slips onto his arm is completely smooth, entirely round without a jagged edge. He carved the image of a few constellations around the outside, but if Taako doesn’t notice they’re actual ones they’ve made up over the years, Magnus won’t tell.

Despite his flippant attitude, Taako twirls his wrist around in front of him, admiring his new jewelry almost happily. It’s just a momentary distraction from the grand problems looming over them, and Magnus already dedicated an entire cycle to providing Taako with enough gifts to make a boring year happy. Though he won’t admit it, Taako did the same for him the next cycle, amping up the PDA and cooking for maximum Magnus comfort.

“We’ll land on a new planet and save the world,” Magnus says after a few minutes of silence, hands crossed over his stomach. “How doesn’t really matter. But it’ll be a peaceful place, with people we can just blend in with and be able to live among.”

Taako scoffs but doesn’t move from where he’s laying next to him. “If this ends with me in an apron making dinner for when you come home from work with five kids, I’m out.”

“Hell no. We’re going to  _ adventure _ together, babe.” The grin on his face is wide and all teeth when he turns to direct it at Taako. By the way his lips twitch just slightly, Magnus figures it works. “I don’t think we can live normally after all this, so we’re just gonna learn all about this new world from the ground up. We’ll meet lots of people, kills lots of bad guys, get some cool loot--all of us, together.”

“I dunno if Lucretia will be down for looting.”

“She’ll just be the one to record our magnificent tales and keep us from walking into trees, then.”

Taako snorts, and the familiar sound signalling that everything is okay relieves some of the tension in Magnus’s gut. It isn’t a laugh, not just yet, but he’s working his way up to get to something closer to normal. It’s been forever since either of them were able to relax and be themselves with each other when all that was on their minds was this endless… doom.

Magnus rolls over onto his side to face him, and after a few moments, Taako does the same.

“Lup’s gonna be at the front of the group,” Taako picks up where he left off. “She’ll force everyone if she has to. Barry just wants to learn about every dumb thing, he’s lucky he’s got the pushiest bitch to help him get there.”

“He won’t like being at the front, but she’ll be dragging him by his hand. Then he’s all aboard.”

“Merle’s just in it for everyone else. He doesn’t like to settle down in general but… he calls us his family--”

“ _ You’ve _ called us your family too. We all have.”

Taako lightly hits his arm. “Shut up, don’t interrupt me when I’m indulging you.”

“Davenport has to see everything through to the end,” Magnus continues. “He and Lucretia have become close, and I think he’s gotten to enjoy adventuring, too.”

Their faces are a couple inches apart, and with the way Taako always curls up when he lays down, their knees are just barely touching. Magnus doesn’t dare to move for fear of disturbing the delicate space they’re caught in, and he feels the same hesitance from the other as well. This is openness and vulnerability they haven’t shared in a long time. This is precious.

“And us?” the elf prompts him, and Magnus hears his voice quiet just so slightly with the question.

It’s nearly been an entire century since they left on their journey. No one could have anticipated what they would be faced with, and the point still stands that no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Their mission has been nothing but shots in the dark and praying every few years that a sliver of the uncertainty clouding their purpose will peel away. The next day could very well be their last, or the beginnings of an eternity.

They’ve fought so much, gotten hurt, and died so many times. Although their bodies always return to that same shape from the beginning, Magnus knows he’s much older now. He’s outlived the majority lifespan of humans, and it feels like he should fall over for good any day now. Taako, every year, without fail, returns to his young and beautiful state, unmarred by injury, age, or whatever difficulties they faced the months prior.

Over half a century ago, the two of them found each other and decided to take on this journey as a pair. While their time together has been shorter for Taako, the majority of Magnus’s life has been spent with this one man. It’s harder to imagine a world without him than anything else, any other home he had before.

“We’re fighting up top. We’re making up stupid plans that’ll get us hurt and nearly killed, but we’re laughing and goofing off the entire time. Every now and then we’ll stop for a while, hang out in one place--and you  _ definitely _ are wearing an apron making dinner for me, cuz I’ll kill us if I tried.” Taako’s eyes light up but doesn’t laugh. “But I’ll be there with you, making some wood ducks for Fisher and stuff. Everyone else is there too, duh, but we sneak away for some Taagnus time and sizzle it up.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

Even so, Taako finally scoots closer and bridges the gap between them with a surprisingly chaste kiss. Magnus only returns what is offered to him and keeps it simple, placing a hand on Taako’s waist to keep him from rolling away when they pull away, though. He’s smiling when they do.

“You think we’ll still be together, even when we’re out of this fucked up mess?” Taako asks, voice barely a whisper. He can hear the silent question the elf refuses to voice in his words;  _ you’d still choose me _ ?

Magnus curls his fingers in the fabric of Taako’s pants over his hip lazily, dipping under his shirt just for the sake of feeling their skin touch. His eyes don’t leave his face, though he knows the extended contact must be becoming much for Taako.  Magnus grins like he's keeping a secret.  “One time, I told Lup that this was it for me. Decades later, this is still everything for me.”

Taako lets out a surprisingly loud groan of exasperation as he rolls full force to hide his face in Magnus’s chest, arms immediately wrapping around each other on reflex. “Fuck, this is too much of emotions, just tell me about how much ass we’re gonna kick when this is done!”

Magnus laughs, and he does that.

They sit under the sky, still cloudy, but paying too much attention to each other to notice. Magnus makes up tales they'll tell, stretches the truth of the adventures they've been on, and they trade ideas back and forth for fake identities they can use in a new world. Magnus decides to be a carpenter, and naturally, Taako’s a chef. They don't go well together at all, but Taako assures him that a variety of skills are more useful than none at all.

Magnus talks until he inevitably falls asleep. Unlike the previous times, Taako isn't there when he wakes up. He panics momentarily, about to think the worst when the elf emerges from the forest beyond the clearing they were in with a sack full of breakfast for both of them.

Magnus loves him. Clear as day and sure as anything in their messy lives.

He watches the bracelet twirl around the elf’s wrist--it made for good practice for what he is now positive is sure to come.

* * *

He recruits Merle for his new plan. The dwarf is the only one he can expect to keep this classified, albeit not that serious. The two have their own relationship that has grown over decades of inappropriate jokes and Magnus confiding in the older man’s odd wisdom. The guy was kind of like a dad to all of them, and he’d told him so once. Merle pretended to wave it off as if he wasn’t smiling the entire time.

Taako is suspicious from the first moment Magnus excuses himself. It’s no surprise Taako knows him so well, seeing as they’ve been together for most of his life. Even so, he doesn’t ask Magnus what he’s doing outright which goes to show how much their trust had developed. If anything, something out of the ordinary is probably exactly what Taako needs now.

Merle and Magnus work together on the better part of a month in the middle of a new cycle together, sneaking around everyone in the camp with the tact and subtlety of orc children which amuses Lup to no end. She’s the only one who tries to pry information out of him, and after being held at wand-point, Magnus is forced to envelop both her and Barry into their plans.

Unfortunately, the planet they land on is without any intelligent civilization, which makes this just a bit more difficult. Merle is the first to assure him that they can work around it and use what they have with them. He says it’ll be more heartfelt and meaningful that way or something, and Lup agrees just for the sake of seeing this through to the end. Magnus knows if he leaves her with this secret for little more than a month she’ll eventually burst.

Regardless of the dangers of working with her, Lup is probably the most valuable asset to their small team; she knows everything about Taako, some things even more than Magnus. With the two people Taako loves the most working together on something for him, it’s sure to be the best--or so he direly hopes.

It’s the beginning of the third month when their plan comes to fruition. They wait a few extra days for the weather to be just  _ perfect _ , slightly cloudy, and the specialty of this planet allows the stars to be seen throughout the day behind pink skies. Lup begins everything by kidnapping Taako from his work collecting groceries in one of the forests nearby. He goes willingly, probably having expected someone to try and surprise him for a few weeks now.

Barry’s role had been one of the more daunting. With what materials they could gather, he agreed to sew (a skill they found he had early on) an outfit using Lup’s body to tailor it. The two had more fun with it than they should have, and if they hadn’t been with Merle whenever they worked on it, Magnus would be afraid they had  _ too _ much fun.

For tradition’s sake, Magnus hasn’t seen it.

He stands at the front of the makeshift ‘chapel’ they put together with Merle at his side. Lucretia and Davenport sit in two chairs next to each other facing the front, both smiling easily and talking together. When Magnus adjusts the collar of the nicest shirt he picked up a few worlds ago, Davenport flashes him a reassuring thumbs up that Lucretia mimics.

It wasn’t until they started this plan that they discovered no one on this team had ever been married.

The closest they had was Barry and Lup’s lich ceremony, and even then, it was incredibly untraditional. Magnus is a man of homeliness and rustic hospitality--he has to have this go right.

“Look alive,” Merle whispers, and Magnus almost jumps out of his skin.

Davenport stands up first, beginning to sing a toned down version of the melody he created for the first voidfish. Lucretia follows after him but only hums along as she turns to face the back. Lup and Taako stand together at the end of the aisle with her hands over his eyes.

Magnus prepared for almost an entire month, had everything planned down to the last second so this could be all about Taako.

Instead, he finds the moment he’s currently stuck in to be far more overwhelming than he ever expected.

Taako says something and Lup finally removes her hand from his face, seamlessly linking their arms instead so he doesn’t fall over. Magnus watches him take in everything one by one. He looks down first, as Lup blindfolded him before stuffing him in the dress they spent all this time making. It isn’t white, and Magnus thought he would’ve been more upset about it, but seeing Taako at the end of an aisle wearing any kind of floor length, formal dress is all it takes to get the tear ducts working. Even if it is pink.

Taako’s wide eyes take in their surroundings next. Magnus and Merle worked together on creating something resembling an altar with what they could manage, Magnus doing all the heavy lifting while Merle decorated the entire area with more flowers than he knew a world was capable of sustaining. They’re a bunch of odd looking plants, none he’s ever seen before and are probably dangerous, but visually, they were still pretty. 

Finally, Taako’s sight lands on him, and Magnus can see him take in a sharp breath. It wasn’t really a fantasy tuxedo or anything super nice, but it was better than his adventuring clothes.

Lup tugs on his arm to start walking, and Taako all but shrieks as he bats her away. “What the fuck!” he screeches, face as red as their uniforms as his sister now drags him by the hand down the makeshift aisle. Magnus doesn’t expect things to go like a regular wedding; sure enough, Taako complains loudly the entire time, covering his eyes with one hand as Lup forcefully yanks him behind her, laughing all the while.

When they reach the end, she lets go of him and grabs him by the shoulders from behind. Taako has both hands over his face when she shoves him forward. “Magnus, catch!”

He snickers easily and accepts the smaller body into his arms before he can fall. “Thanks, sis!”

“Ohhhh no, fuck no, Burnsides!” Taako’s voice flew up a flight of octaves, practically squeaking as Magnus situations the two of them to be standing in front of each other and takes one of his hands from his face. “What do you think you’re  _ doing _ !”

“Getting married--or I hoped.”

If Taako was going to retaliate, he is cut off by Merle clearing his throat as he begins the ceremony. Barry stands supportively behind Magnus while Lup makes eyes at him behind her brother. Taako’s eyes dart around them nervously, only landing on Magnus when he reaches out and grabs the elf’s hand.

Just as always, one reassuring smile is all it takes for that fight-or-flight to dissipate from Taako’s face, replaced now with a goofy grin.

There's no guaranteeing how much time they have left, or any at all. 

Magnus can't remember the reason he first embarked on this mission, but he thanks his past self for giving him all of this. This is all that matters anymore, both their memories, and the chance of a future, no matter how small.

A little ragtag family of seven soaring through the universe that he wouldn’t trade for any world.

When the time comes, Magnus reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pair of wooden rings he spent a week carving to perfection. He’d come a long way since the village of carpenter masters trying to help him carve a single curve. The surprise is evident on Taako’s face before he laughs and sticks out his hand, wiggling his fingers to accept his part. He does the same for Magnus, sliding the wooden piece on his finger with ease and although Magnus made it for himself, his heart still soars.

He glances up from their joined hands to find Taako studying his face and raises his eyebrows suggestively. Taako kicks his shin during their vows.

“And so,” Merle announces, preacher voice full and turned up to max, “as customary, we will all gather together in singing a hymn--”

Taako barks out a laugh. “Hey, fuck that!”

Without preamble, he easily jumps up and drags Magnus down by his sideburns to slam their mouths together messily. Magnus can do nothing but indulge him, wrapping his arms around his small waist and lifting the elf up in the air dramatically, just so he can hear Taako laugh into the kiss. He can hear Lup losing her shit behind them while Barry claps, and soon everyone is applauding their makeshift, shoddy ceremony.

It’s not the wedding Magnus would have expected if they were home. There was no white dress, bouquet, only Magnus comes up with vows while Taako just says ‘yeah ditto’, and the cleric forgot half of his words. Davenport coughs a few times during his performance, and Lucretia remains mostly focused on writing everything down in her journals.

Taako demands to be carried all the way back to their camp though, and Magnus easily obliges, tripping and laughing and cursing each other the entire way while their friends follow suit.

They don’t have a reception, but Taako and Lup work together in the Starblaster to make a pretty bitchin’ dinner over which the newlyweds feed each other for the sole purpose of hearing their friends groan. 

Magnus hasn’t seen everyone this happy in decades, not after their spirits had sunk so low. He holds Taako’s hand under the table and strokes his thumb over the ring there. Taako glances at him and smirks, yanking him down by his arm for a quieter kiss when everyone else is distracted. The expression he wears when they separate is perhaps the most open and vulnerable he’s been since the last time they died.

“Let’s get those adventures going, yeah?”

If this is all he has, for however many more centuries to come, Magnus is content.

* * *

“I can’t remember her, I can’t remember her face. You have to kill me.”

The stranger speaking to him with frantic, crazed expressions fills Taako with nothing but fear on top of the confusion he is absorbed with. Suddenly, he cannot remember where he is, who he’s with, or what he’s been doing all this time. Without any reason not to, Taako does what the man asks and fiddles with his wand, casting a ball of flame at him and promptly throws the man overboard.

The wand falls from his grasp while sparks continue to fly and nips his hand.

He yelps as flame catches onto him and continues even once he pulls away from it, only noticing after a few moments of deranged bewilderment that the fire caught on to what appears to be a wooden ring. He doesn’t think anything of yanking the piece off and throwing it overboard to spare both his skin and his mind the extra confusion that has taken him captive.

The ring is ash before it hits the ground.

* * *

They are placed on opposite ends of the world. Magnus exchanges his wooden ring for a golden band matching someone else’s, and Taako drives through the world without a single other person.

Neither of them feel any pain from the loss; it’s difficult to grieve what you never knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so glad it's over so i can start working on the next few parts of this. there's a lot of TSC taagnus fic and the only reason i wrote this was so i could get to the current day shit as a result of everything in here.
> 
> there's a good couple fics to come after this, it's a whole event. so thanks for stickin through the backstory lol
> 
> i'm always on my tumblr [ludella](ludella.tumblr.com), come swing by

**Author's Note:**

> all of this is already written! i'll update every few days, i can't wait an entire week. this is part of a larger work that's going to focus on the effects of this fic, aka, magnus and taako being in a relationship and forgetting about it. im super psyched to start writing the other parts.
> 
> it's hard to write magnus pre-julia
> 
> leave comments if you like or swing by my writing tumblr, @ludella!


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